The Netherlands: Maasvlakte 2 Seawall Completion Expected in January 2012

At the end of April, the PUMA consortium started constructing the final block dam. In May, the first blocks became visible above water. Now approximately 170 metres of the dam is ready (of a total of aro und 3,500 metres = 20,000 blocks).

The highest blocks in the dam now protrude some three metres above the water. PUMA is expecting the job to be completed in January 2012. The seawall will then be ready to withstand storms that occur only once every ten thousand years. The storm that caused so much devastation in 1953 belongs to the ‘once in 100 to 250 years’ category.

The removal of the existing block dam is also progressing well. More than 19,000 concrete blocks have been removed and transferred to a temporary store on the new hard seawall. A million tonnes of basanite has also been removed from the old block dam. Blocks and basanite will both be re-used in the new block dam.

[mappress]

Source: Maasvlakte 2, July 15, 2011